Skills & Tips

Rope Skills To Learn Before Your Next Climbing Trip. Whether you’re a mountaineer or a canyoneer, chances are you live and die by your rope and your ability to use it.

Possessing a handful of basic climbing rope skills can you get out of serious jams, and it might even save your life. Here are five climbing rope skills for the mountains, canyons and hills that can allow you to rescue yourself or others and turn a nightmare into an adventure. Rappel on a Munter Hitch It happens to the best of us: You go on a climbing or spelunking adventure and remember to bring all of your numerous pieces of gear, except perhaps the most essential: a rappel device. This can be a total nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be cause for panic. Knot Your Rope Ends During Rappels This is one of the most obvious climbing rope skills. Luckily, remembering—or rather, drilling into your skull—the need to tie simple overhand knots in the ends of the rope, is well worth the effort.

Prusik Knot. How to Make a Bug Out Bag. Desert Survival: 8 Simple Tips That Could Save Your Life. Accidents and emergencies can turn anyone’s desert trip into a life and death situation.

Check the Clouds: Clouds can tell us a lot about the weather. For example, they can tell us if it’s going to be warmer on a particular night by simply being there. That’s because they prevent heat radiation from escaping. They can also tell you whether there will be rain and whether there will be bad weather in general (when you see clouds moving in opposite directions of each other). Check the Humidity: If you’re one of those people whose hair gets all curly when it gets really humid out, you know exactly what this is about.

Check the Animals: Birds only fly in the sky when they expect fair weather ahead. Look at the Rainbow (but only in the west) and look for a Red Sky: If you see one in the west, it means a major storm front is coming. Check the Air: If it smells like a compost heap, expect some rain soon.
Build a Fire Bed - Step-by-Step Guides for Offbeat DIY Projects. How to Make a Signal Fire. How To Use a Compass - when you have no compass....
Kjetil Kjernsmo's illustrated guide on Finding the directions without a compass You are lost. I mean really lost. Standing in the middle of nowhere, and you have no idea where to go.

If you are really in trouble, remember two things first of all: stay calm, think rationally, and you can survive a long time without food. Further thoughts about extreme survival skills is beyond the scope of this page, seek advice elsewhere beyond this introduction. This page is mainly about the northern hemisphere of the earth, actually north of 23.5 °, because I have never been to the southern hemisphere myself (would like to go there of course!). For a start, it may be a good idea to climb a hill, and get a good look around. Let us start with the most accurate method. In the morning, at least before noon, the trick starts. Now, the line from the first stick to the second is west-east, like on the figure. There is a short, fast version of this one as well.
How To Make Glow-In-The-Dark Mountain Dew. How to sail an America's Cup Yacht. 10 Wilderness Survival Skills From Hatchet. The other day I was sorting through some old books and stumbled upon a childhood favorite, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.

The last time I read it was nearly 15 years ago, so I decided to read it again for old times sake. For those of you who haven’t read Hatchet, the basic plot is this: A teenage city boy named Brian Robeson crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness while flying in a bush plane. The pilot dies, and the boy lives. All alone in the wilderness, Brian must learn how to survive in the wild for 54 days with nothing but a hatchet. I discovered a few things while re-reading Hatchet. As a boy I made mental notes of what Brian did to survive; every boy secretly dreams and wonders about whether he’d be up for such a challenge. Take Inventory of Your Supplies It kept coming back to that. Everything you have on your person is a potential survival tool. Get Your Head Right Maintaining a positive attitude is perhaps the hardest and most important wilderness survival skill to develop.